(More Than) A Spot in the Sun: Birds of a Feather

Considering the fact that the bird Zazu is a major character in the Lion King, I'm a little surprised that I have not covered South African birds yet. So today I'm going to fix this problem and write about my feathered friends. There are a lot of birds in South Africa, so I will only be covering a few of them. And since I already mentioned Zazu, I think I'm going to start with the hornbills.

Zazu is technically a Red-billed Hornbill, which is a relatively small member of the hornbill family. Members of this bird family vary greatly in size. The smallest member is the Black Dwarf Hornbill at 1 foot in length and 3.6 oz in weight, while the largest member is the Southern Ground Hornbill at 13.6 pounds and 4 feet in length. The male animals are always bigger than the females, but any further sexual dimorphism varies with body parts such as the bill and wing length. The most unique feature of the hornbills is the heavy bill that assists in fighting, preening, constructing the nest, and catching prey. The hornbills have something called a casque, which is a hollow structure that runs along the upper mandible and reinforces the bill. In one species of hornbill, called the Helmeted Hornbill, the casque is actually filled with ivory and used as a battering ram in aerial jousts. Their bill is so large that it intrudes on their vision, but this allows them to be more precise in the handling of food objects with their bil. Food objects include fruit, insects, and small animals. As far as social relationships go, Zazu isn't the only member of this family that teams up with other species of animals. For example, some species of African hornbills have a mutualistic relationship with Dwarf Mongooses in which they forage together and warn each other of imminent danger.

The Red-billed Hornbill, real and animated

The Helmeted Hornbill's casque is filled with ivory.

Bee-eaters are gorgeous little birds with richly colored feathers, slender bodies, downturned bills, and pointed wings. As their name suggests, they eat flying insects and prefer bees and wasps. The bee-eater removes the stinger by repeatedly hitting and rubbing the insect on a hard surface, which manages to extract most of the venom. The birds will only pursue insects that are flying. Bee-eaters live in colonies and nest in burrows tunneled into the side of sandy banks. Many different species of bee-eaters are found in South Africa, including the Little Bee-eater and the Southern Carmine Bee-eater.

Southern Carmine Bee-eater

Little Bee-eaters

South Africa is home to 8 different species of Old World Vultures, including the Bearded Vulture, the Cape Griffon Vulture, the Egyptian Vulture, the Palmnut Vulture, the Hooded Vulture, the White-backed Vulture, the Lappet-faced vulture, and the White-headed Vulture. Vultures are scavenging birds, and many species have bald heads that help to keep the head clean while eating messy gory stuff. A group of vultures is called a wake, committee, venue, kettle, or volt. Kettle refers specifically to vultures in flight, while committee, volt, and venue refer to vultures that are resting in trees. A wake is a group of vultures who are feeding. Because the African vultures are old world vultures, they find carcasses exclusively by sight. Vultures will rarely attack healthy animals, but may go after wound or sick animals. These birds are very important, especially in hot regions, because they can safely digest putrid carcasses infected with things like hog cholera and anthrax bacteria.

Bearded Vulture

Egyptian Vulture

Cape Griffon Vulture

Hooded Vulture

Moving right along to flightless birds. Ostriches are large, flightless birds with the ability to run at speeds of up to 43 miles per hour, the top land speed of any bird. Not only is the Ostrich the fastest runner, it is also the largest living species of bird and lays the largest eggs known to bird. They weigh between 140 and 290 pounds, with some extremely large male specimens weighing up to 350 pounds. Their long neck and legs elevate their head anywhere from 6-9 feet off the ground. They eat mostly plant matter, although they will eat invertebrates as well. They live in nomadic groups consisting of between five and fifty animals. If threatened, the Ostrich will either hide by laying flat against the ground or it will run away. If it can do neither of these, it can attack with a kick from its powerful legs. Their legs can only kick forward, but they can cause serious harm or even death. Their feet actually have long claws that are capable of disemboweling with a single blow. Despite this dangerous little detail, Ostrich racing is a popular (and unusual) sport in some countries, especially in South Africa. Contrary to popular belief, they do not bury their heads in the sand.

Big claw!

Baby Ostrich

I wasn't making it up. They race ostriches.

The next flightless bird, and last feature of tonight's blog, is the African Penguin. Also known as the Black-footed Penguin for its black feet, or as the "Jackass" penguin due to its donkey-like bray. It is between 26 and 27 inches tall and weighs between 4 and 11 pounds. Their unique black and white coloring is a form of camouflage. The white is for underwater predators looking upwards, while the black is for predators looking down into the dark water. They live on 24 islands, some of which are known as the Penguin Islands, off of the coast of southern Africa. They eat pelagic fish, anchovies, and small marine invertebrates. It can live up to 27 years in the wild, although they often fall prey to sharks, seals, orcas, mongooses, genets, domestic cats, and the Kelp Gull. It is an endangered species, due to commercial fisheries depleting their food supply and due to the practice of collecting penguin eggs to eat. Oil spills, such as the sinking of the MV Treasure in June 2000, also threaten to push these birds to extinction.